Earlier this week, anti-piracy lawyers ACS:Law had their website taken down by a 4chan DDoS attack. Adding insult to injury, owner Andrew Crossley was harassed at home in the middle of the night by prank phone calls. Now, through a fault with his website, hundreds of megabytes of private emails have been exposed to the public and uploaded to The Pirate Bay. To those hoping that this is a MediaDefender-type fiasco all over again, trust us – it is.
After coordinating DDoS attacks against the MPAA, RIAA and anti-piracy company AiPlex Software this week, 4chan turned to a new target.
Anti-piracy lawyers ACS:Law, who send out tens of thousands of letters demanding cash-settlements from often innocent Internet subscribers, became the new target. The company, which is headed up by lone principal Andrew Crossley, is widely hated among file-sharers and innocents alike and with 4chan’s Operation Payback now in full swing, payback is the operative word.
After prank telephone calling Crossley in the middle of the night during the week, it now seems that 4chan are aiming to tear his professional life apart, as they have obtained and are distributing a 350mb file of the company’s website which includes countless company emails.
So how were they obtained?
“Their site came back online [after the DDoS attack] – and on their frontpage was accidentally a backup file of the whole website (default directory listing, their site was empty), including emails and passwords,†a leader of the attacking group told TorrentFreak. “The email contains billing passwords and some information that ACS:Law is having financial problems.â€
Financial problems? Interesting. Many tens of thousands of people who received letters from ACS:Law are also experiencing the same problem, having already paid up several hundred pounds each to make non-existent lawsuits go away.
“We’re still sorting through it. There’s a lot of stuff here to go through. But, basically, we were told we were less important than a 10 minute late train, or a queue for coffee by Andrew,†the attackers’ spokesman told us, adding:
“Payback is a bitch, isn’t it Andrew?â€
Actually, I think right about now, Andrew is the bitch.
Sweet! Gotta love hackers. Although such stories make things like this more disturbing.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-internet-wiretaps,0,6676107.story
I know two wrongs don’t make a right, but DAMN I love seeing asstard lawyers get their shit hung out in the wind.
lulz were had
Sic semper tyrannis.
Since we’re on this subject, how DOES one block unidentified calls to one’s telephones? I have ComCrap, and they offer the standard Anonymous Call Rejection (*77) service, which simply does not work all the time. Their tech support said that it really only works when someone is dialing from a phone system that is identical to mine, but if they dial from with a Centrex system, for example, or if they dial from a foreign company, or if they dial from most boiler rooms, the call will not be stopped by *77.
I’ve taken to “bleeping” on all such callers by answering, then repeatedly pressing # for about 15 seconds, then hanging up, but to the harasser, this counts as a victory, since he/she made me answer the phone. Refusing to answer might eventually defeat those types, but in the meanwhile, I have to listen to the bloody phone ring a LOOOONG time, and the enemy probably knows that is a win also.
RD, my Panasonic phones have the ability to block specific numbers at the phone. It’s a bit more of a hassle because I have to enter the numbers I want blocked, but once I do, it rings once and then recognizes the number as a blocked caller, disallowing further annoying rings or callers ability to leave voice-mail. Got a set of 3 cordless phones (with built in answering machine/base) at Costco for $60. (One thing: I think you need to have the “caller ID” feature though your phone company for this feature to work.)
RD, you can buy a device that sits between the phone and the wall. It intercepts blocked numbers programed by you. If the number is on it’s ban list, it does not pass through the current to the phone. The phone never rings. You can ban “UNAVAILABLE” or other text too.
It’s $200 or something like that. The telco’s offerings in this area suck because they have incentives not to give you the same power.
I will see if I can find a link.